Google’s Driverless Cars Get Boost as California Mimics Nevada

By Amanda J. Crawford -
Mar 1, 2012

A California state senator arrived
at a press conference at the Sacramento capitol today in a
Google Inc.-modified Toyota Prius (7203) that drives itself.

Senator Alex Padilla announced new legislation written with
Google’s input at the event, timed to coincide with new
regulations allowing the world’s first autonomous vehicles to be
road-tested and registered in neighboring Nevada. The bill
reflects Mountain View, California-based Google’s latest push to
show policymakers that while the cars of the future aren’t yet
ready for public use, it’s time for laws to accommodate them.

“I imagine a lot of people think of a self-driving car as
science fiction or something out of The Jetsons and something
that may not be available for a long time,” Padilla said after
climbing out of the black Prius with a Google logo on the side
and spinning sensors attached to the roof.

Rapid advancements in technology mean the cars will be a
reality for consumers soon and the laws should be ready for
them, he said.

“We have introduced this bill recognizing that autonomous
technology is coming much sooner, rather than later,” Padilla
said.

The bill offered by Padilla, a Pacoima Democrat, would
direct the California Highway Patrol to develop regulations like
Nevada’s for testing the self-driving vehicles on the state’s
roadways and for their future operation by consumers.

‘Building a Framework’

“I’m really excited about seeing Senator Padilla’s work on
bringing and building a framework for testing and helping enable
the groundwork for consumers to have access to this wonderful
new technology,” Google’s product manager, Anthony Levandowski,
said at the press conference.

Major carmakers are working on self-driving prototypes
while rolling out semi-autonomous features -- such as parking
assistance, lane departure warning systems and adaptive cruise
control -- on premium vehicles now. Yet it’s Google’s car that’s
attracted the most attention and inspired the regulatory push.

200,000 Miles

Google’s autonomous cars have driven themselves 200,000
miles in California -- across the Golden Gate Bridge, along the
Pacific Coast Highway and on Hollywood Boulevard, according to
the company.

In August, a Google auto rear-ended another vehicle and
caused a five-car accident near the company’s headquarters,
according to news reports. Google said at the time that the
accident was caused by a human driver who was in control of the
test vehicle. Google spokesman Jay Nancarrow said the company’s
cars have never been involved in an accident while in self-
driving mode.

Liability remains one of the major concerns that might
delay commercial use of driverless cars for the public, Marchant
said. There are also technical obstacles to overcome, such as
evaluating obstructions on the road, said Bryant Walker Smith, a
fellow with the Palo Alto, California-based Center for Internet
and Society and the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford.
And there are concerns about how the cars can be programmed to
make value judgments, such as choosing to swerve off the road
and crash to avoid hitting someone, Smith said.

‘Cost-Benefit Issues’

“There are tricky cost-benefit issues,” he said. “There
are technical barriers to be overcome and non-technical
issues.”

Google acknowledges there are still things to be worked
out. Nancarrow said the company believes existing product-
liability laws can cover the emerging technology and that the
cars won’t find themselves facing the same tough choices as
human drivers.

“Our cars are designed to avoid the kinds of situations
that force people to make last-minute value judgments while
driving,” he said.

Google touted the driverless car’s safety record and the
potential to reduce auto accidents caused by human error last
year when it began working on the Nevada legislation. Nancarrow
said Google will probably apply to test in Nevada to examine how
the vehicle behaves in different terrain and weather. The cars
have had little exposure to snow, for example, he said.

Google Lobbyist

Bruce Breslow, director of Nevada’s Department of Motor
Vehicles, said he got a call from a lobbyist working on Google’s
behalf just two weeks after taking his post last year. Breslow,
56, agreed to meet with Google engineers in California and try
out the technology himself.

The Google vehicles navigate using video cameras, radar
sensors, a laser range-finder and detailed maps, according to a
Google blog post. After seeing the car in action and asking
questions, Breslow was won over. He later helped arrange a 20-
mile ride around Carson City, the state capital, for Nevada
Governor Brian Sandoval.

“I thought it was amazing technology,” Breslow said.
“The car sees better than you do. The car sees a 360-degree
panorama. It sees the height of the curb. It sees three cars
ahead, three cars behind. It can see beyond a blind spot.”

Nevada Roads

Nevada legislators passed a law in June directing Breslow’s
agency to develop regulations for the vehicles. Breslow said he
thinks autonomous vehicles will be operating on the state’s
roads in three to five years.

The regulations allow any company developing autonomous
vehicles to get authorization from the DMV to test them on
public roads after they have been tried in various conditions
for 10,000 miles on private tracks or elsewhere. The companies
must put up a $1 million to $3 million bond, depending on the
number of vehicles to be tested, and ensure that there will
always be two people in the vehicle to take over operation, if
needed.

The cars must have a “black box” to record 30 seconds
prior to any impact in an accident. The safety of the vehicles
must be certified by the manufacturer or a licensed
certification facility before they can be registered by
consumers for private operation on the roadways.

‘Thoughtful Framework’

“In Nevada, what they have managed to do is build a
thoughtful framework to enable ongoing testing for really any
player that meets these requirements,” Google’s Nancarrow said.

Florida state Representative Jeff Brandes, a St. Petersburg
Republican, has treated state Attorney General Pam Bondi and
House Speaker Dean Cannon to rides in Google’s self-driving cars
around Tallahassee, the capital. He said he accelerated up to 70
miles per hour, the speed limit, on Interstate 10 and then took
his foot off the pedal and his hands off the wheel.

“I was blown away and just kind of got addicted to the
idea,” Brandes said in an interview.

Brandes’s legislation would allow the vehicles to be tested
in the state and directs the Department of Highway Safety and
Motor Vehicles to prepare rules and potential laws to regulate
the cars for personal use by 2014.

Brandes and other supporters say the self-driving vehicles
may increase safety and add capacity to the roadways. There are
30,000 to 40,000 motor-vehicle fatalities every year in the
U.S., according to the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration.

Safety Risk

Some see safety at risk in the laws authorizing driverless
cars. The Florida proposal was called “potentially hazardous”
by the Tampa Tribune in an editorial, which said the cars should
be tested on tracks, not public streets.

“There is only so much testing and learning you can do in
an isolated environment,” he said at the press conference.
“It’s not until we expose the technology to real-world
conditions that we will learn everything we need to learn before
we see the mass deployment of it.”

State laws should provide opportunities to work out how the
new technology is regulated, without stifling development or
pushing out some new players, Smith said.

“Innovators and companies want to know what the law is,
but the law should also be flexible enough to permit the
innovation,” he said.